Monarch Butterfly Numbers Dropping Fast

The number of monarch butterflies migrating from the United States and Canada to Mexican winter colonies in El Rosario is the smallest ever?EUR??,,????'??+down by three-quarters from last year. Experts are studying whether the decline is due to deforestation, bad weather, predatory birds, climate change, pesticides, or whether all of the above are endangering the fragile insects. One group very interested in preserving Monarchs and safeguarding their migration routes is The Daniel Boone Butterfly Palace, Inc, a non-profit organization run by Sheila Boone, direct descendent of Daniel Boone, and supported by Senator Bruce McPherson of Calif.. Their goal is to bring public awareness to the only over wintering habitats of the Monarchs in the United States, and encourage people to plant butterfly gardens all along the migration routes. These plants include the absolutely necessary milkweed plants, plus sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, phlox, garden petunias, butterfly bush, blackeyed susans, lilies, cosmos and daisies. At their Mexican over wintering site, El Rosario, which drew 133,000 tourists last year, the Monarchs are clustered much higher then where they used to gather -- making them more vulnerable to cold weather -- because logging has thinned out the lower slopes. In 2002, some 65 million died when snow fell on El Rosario, reducing their numbers by 75 percent. Now, the Monarch butterfly numbers are reduced by yet another 75 percent. Unfortunately, for many of the dirt-poor, unemployed locals, selling logs is a temptation that's hard to resist. For more information, go to www.butterflypalace.org.